Stronghold
by Saku
Summary: This fic is based on Kurama and his ability to cope with the world around him. When things go horribly wrong for the red head, who will be there to keep him sane? Is that even possible anymore?
1. The Beating

"Shuiichi's a girl!"   
  
Kurama, known to most as "Shuiichi", winced and kept walking. The relentless mockery was always the worst outside of the high school walls. Kurama had, for the most part, enjoyed his walks home but lately they became less relaxed and more hurried. He glanced over his shoulder. There were five thugs from the high school following him a few paces behind. Why do they always have something to say? He recognized them. A small group of ruffians with slicked back hair, wrinkled uniforms and equally repulsive demeanor. Something hit him in the back of the head. Kurama stopped his vigorus pace and turned to face the opposition with a dark glare.   
  
"What do you want?" he glowered.  
  
Taking a final drag of his cigarette, the middle hooligan flicked the remaining butt carelessly and stepped forward to retrieve the stone from the pavement.  
  
"Did you touch my rock, woman?" he gruffed. The significant others approved of the taunt with a succession of snickers.  
  
Kurama scowled. "Don't call me that, I'm not a woman."  
  
Snickers graduated into chuckles and high fives amongst the thugs.  
  
"Could have fooled me." The thug with the rock smirked. He circled around behind Kurama and tugged on his long, red hair. "What's with the hair, Rapunzel? You ever think of cutting it? Maybe then you'll look like a member of the male species."  
  
The scorned uttered a low growl in response. Bakas....  
  
"If I cut it, it will just grow back. Do you not have some personality shopping to do?"  
  
Kurama's comeback was rewarded all too soon with a swift punch to the stomach. Winded, Kurama hit the ground on his knees.   
  
"Maybe that'll teach you some respect, WOMAN."   
  
Kurama looked up and gave him the finger. The boy snarled. "Go to town on him boys, he's dog meat." Kurama tried to stand but was forced back to the ground compliment of another boy's foot colliding with his ribcage. One boy grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled, forcing Kurama to look into his face. The boy smiled, showing big yellow stained teeth. Kurama coughed from the thug's bad breath and the boy went for his open mouth. The guy was kissing him! Disgusted, Kurama shoved him away.  
  
"Looks like he kisses like a girl too!" Laughter.   
  
Kurama wiped his mouth with his hand and fought the urge to throw up.  
  
"Look how weak he is. I bet he's going to cry." The boy with the rock kneeled in front of the heaving Kurama, who was gasping and holding his stomach. "Are you going to cry, Shuiichi?"  
  
Kurama glared at his tormentor through his bangs. "Kisama." He had to fight the urge to use his rose whip on the idiot. The thug grabbed the red head roughly by the chin, making him look into his eyes. "Next time." He winked. Reaching into his pocket, the teen pulled out a pair of girl's panties and dropped them on the ground in front of the glaring Kurama.   
  
"I think these are yours."  
  
The group of high school ruffians laughed and walked away, leaving Kurama and the uderwear alone on the pavement. Kurama watched them round a corner before trying to stand. Rising shakily to his feet, Kurama closed his eyes as another intense wave of nausea washed over him. They had gotten him pretty good. The kick in the ribs had been the worst part. He groaned and continued his painful walk home. If only he didn't have a moral code.... 


	2. The Company of Friends

When he reached his driveway, Kurama saw Yusuke carrying two-by-fours towards his backyard. Confused as to why he was at his house, Kurama followed the dark haired teen. 

"Yusuke, what are you doing?"

Yusuke turned around and Kurama had to duck to avoid being clobbered by the large panel of wood that swung at him. Yusuke smiled.

"Hey Kurama. We're building a tree house for Hiei."

Kurama's eyes widened. "We?"

"Yeah, Kuwabara's here too. So is Hiei but he's pretty useless."

They made their way to the backyard, where Hiei was busy yelling at Kuwabara.

"I said I don't need a stupid house in my tree! Baka, clean out your ears!"

Kuwabara ignored him and waved to Kurama."Hey Kurama. Thought we'd do something nice for the shrimp."

"Nice? It would be NICE if you listened to me!" Hiei argued. Yusuke set the boards down at the base of Kurama's tree. Kurama staggered a bit and took in a sharp breath. His side hurt...

Hiei left Yusuke and Kuwabara and made his way over to the redhead. "You alright?"

"Not really. I need to recover."

"From what?"

"My stupidity."

Kurama sat down tenderly on the picnic table. Hiei joined him, still looking confused. "What happened?"

"Is it considered a weakness to ignore a fight? To just take a punch and walk away?

Hiei's ruby eyes narrowed. "You let some stupid humans hurt you?"

"Yes." Kurama looked down at his hands.

"Kurama, you're a youko for God's sake! Why do you let humans have their way with you? Why don't you teach them a lesson?"

Kurama looked at him with sad eyes. "I'm not you."

Hiei, not knowing how to respond to this, looked away. Yusuke waved to them. "We're almost done, Hiei! No more sleeping in the rain. No more worrying about falling off a branch."

Hiei groaned. "Do they think I spend all my time here in your tree? bakas..."

Kurama looked up into his tree. there was a nicely put-together tree fort nestled in the branches. "Aww. Hiei it's great. You don't have to use it all the time. It's a gift from them."

"Hn. I didn't want the 'gift' in the first place."

"Can you at least PRETEND to like it? For them?"

"Ch'."

There was a loud shriek from across the yard and Yusuke hopped around holding his hand out and yelling curses. Kuwabara laughed at him, spitting out the nails in his mouth in the process. Hiei frowned. "What happened to him?" Kurama snickered and hid his face in his hands.

"He missed the nail. Poor guy."

"Baka FRICK'N HAMMER! Shimatta!!" Yusuke was mad as all heck and Kuwabara offered to get him some ice. "It's in the kitchen. Go ahead." Kurama told the orange-haired teen. Yusuke came and sat on the picnic table next to Hiei and stuck his thumb into his mouth, whining.

"You bleeding?" Kurama asked him. Leaning across Hiei, Kurama pulled The Reikai Tante's hand from his mouth and examined the red thumb. "That's gonna leave one helluva bruise, Yusuke." He told him. Hiei leaned back on the table.

"Baka. I told you I didn't need a tree house. Now you look ridiculous; hurting yourself for no reason."

Yusuke shot him a dirty look. "You had better use it, Hiei."

Kuwabara came out of Kurama's house with a cloth and ice. "Here." he handed the injured teen the cloth. Kurama took a deep breath, painfully got off the table and walked towards the house. "Excuse me. I must go inside." It was rude to leave his friends like that, he knew. But he still had that annoying nausea to contend with and he needed to lie down before he threw up. Making his way up the stairs to his room, Kurama carefully slipped off his sweatshirt and t-shirt and crawled slowly onto his bed. The beginnings of a headache throbbed at his temples and he curled himself up under the sheets, closing his eyes. A tapping at his window made Kurama open the again. Hiei was crouched on a limb of his tree, peering in at him.

Kurama opened the window, letting the youkai inside, and flopped back onto the bed. Hiei jumped down from the windowsill. "Hn. Figures you'd leave me with the idiots."

Kurama closed his eyes. "Gomen, Hiei. I'm not feeling that well. I'm not much of a host at the moment."

Hiei folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the bedroom wall. "They got you that bad? Bakas...Want me to kill them?"

Kurama's eyes flew open. "Hiei, no!"

Hiei smirked at Kurama's reaction. "I know, I know. No killing humans. Heh, I was just teasing you."

Kurama relaxed once more. "Well don't. I don't think I can take any more teasing." He rolled onto his side, facing away from his friend.

"Kurama?"

"Hmm?"

"What did they do to you?"

Kurama pulled up the covers and narrowed his eyes, remembering the boy who'd kissed him. For a weak species, humans were cruel.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Hiei frowned. "I'll go then."

Kurama heard the slight youkai leave the room via the window. he wanted to reach out and tell Hiei to stay but he didn't. he felt bad enough for letting those thugs get the best of him. He would have to deal with this on his own. His body was weak from the after-effects of the previous adrenaline rush and it didn't take Kurama long to fall asleep.

Author's Note: Please R+R! I need reviews, if I don't get any for this one, I'll either stop writing it or cry. ;; -Saku


End file.
